All Saints and Souls

This weekend is one of my favorite couple of days in the whole Church year. All Saints and All Souls Days are feast days for everyone we have ever loved, or been loved by. These two days help us remember and lift up to God those who have meant much to us.

In the Latin American and Italian traditions, and probably more, relatives go to the graves of their loved ones and decorate them and have meals with them. Some also erect altars in their homes commemorating family and friends who have died with pictures and other treasured reminders. These days are important days for all of us no matter how we celebrate them.

Some time during the month of November I will go to St. Francis of Assisi cemetery and pray the rosary with Mom, Dad, grandparents and uncles. At that time I'll also remember other grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, family, and parishioners who have gone to live in eternity with God, or who are waiting for their time to enter eternal life. Usually this is the slowest rosary I pray all year. That is because I try to remember all of the folks, how they have touched me, and what I hope for each one. My prayer starts when I head in the direction of St. Francis, and continues at least until I get home. It makes for a full and holy day.

These feasts also cause me to remember that our lives are more than just life here. God has a future prepared for every single one of us, eternally. From conception to eternity God has a gift and a plan for us, life ever lasting.

Our all loving and all just God offers each and all of us this gift. It is our choice how we will accept and live this gift called life. Let us each take some time this weekend and this month of November to thank God for all of the Saints and Souls whom we have known. Let us then take some stock of the life that God has given us and commit ourselves again to live the gift according to God's paln.

Peace and Blessings,
Fr. Chuck

The Debate!

A couple of weeks ago two of the candidates running for the U.S. Senate in our state had a debate on K.E.T. After the debate each of the candidates declared victory over their opponent. Most observers realized that each of the candidates just reiterated what they have been saying about themselves and their opponent in their political advertisements (i.e. nothing new, and no light on why we should choose one candidate over the other). The debate was not a debate by either party. It was only posturing, looking good on the camera, and trying not to look bad in front of the voters. I will not try to give any of you a reason to vote for or against either of the two major candidates we have for the open U.S. Senate spot. That would be out of my realm of influence. It would also be against what the Church wants me to do as a Catholic voice. My role and the role of any Catholic preacher is to point out the important issues that are facing us as an electorate and how those issues are to be addressed  by our Catholic Christian faith.

The readings this week say all we need to hear about how to make a faithful choice in the coming election. The first reading from the Book of Exodus goes back to the moral code that the Israelites heard from God, by the way of Moses, during their forty years in the Sinai Desert. Do not oppress aliens among you; make sure the orphans and widows are cared for; do not abuse the poor by heaping harsh taxes and interest on loans upon them. Why? Because you were once them and they too are made in God's image. The U.S. Bishops and the Universal Church ask us not to consider ourselves and our own well being in our voting. Instead we are asked to consider the needs of the most vulnerable in all of our civil dealings, including our voting. So, the unborn, the elderly, the poor, the alien, the others in our world who have no voice are the ones who take priority in the ways we casts ballots, and also how we live our lives. As Jesus lived His life and gave His life selflessly for God and us, so we are called to become "imitators ... of the Lord", as St. Paul asks us to do in the second reading today.

The Gospel shows Jesus in another debate. Last week we saw Him being forced into a debate with the "pro Roman" Herodians about paying taxes. After that he was confronted by the Sadducees about the possibility of resurrection after death. He silenced both debates by pointing to the truth of God and that His way is always first and foremost and should always be the direction of our lives. This week the Pharisees, who were very concerned about how the faithful were to obey the law, confronted Jesus on what laws He thought were the most important.

The Pharisees thought all laws were important to the point that no one could ever fulfill the law completely since the 613 laws of the Old Testament sometimes contradicted each other. Also, the Pharisees were the ones who normally decided which ones were important over the others, and were able to change their importance at their own whim. (They were sort of like traffic officers, sitting in a school zone, with the ability to change the speed limit in order to issue fines on drivers.)

Again Jesus did not fall into their trap. He answered their question with an answer that could not be disputed, and which put them in their places. "Love God with all you have. Love your neighbor in the same way you love yourself." Jesus' answer was the perfect answer then. His is still the perfect answer for us today. It was perfect for His persecutors then because it truly did sum up the Law of Moses, the preaching of the Prophets, and the activity of God in human history to that point. It is the perfect law for us today because it summarizes the life and teaching of Jesus Christ (and gives us a code on how to best imitate the Lord). Loving God above all things and loving us neighbors as Himself is what Jesus did once and for all on the Cross.

The debate continues by the way. Opponents are confronting us still. They want to see us answer universal questions. Who are you? Who am I? What is the purpose of life? What are the rules that should guide our lives? What matters most? Why should we care about anything or anyone other than ourselves? Is there a God; and why should it matter?

We are being watched. Our words and actions are the answers to all of the universal questions that the "world" needs to hear us answer. Do our lives say, "Love God above all and with all that we are. Love our neighbor as we love our selves."? Or are we answering the big questions of life with some truth that is not the Way, the Truth, and the Life?

peace,
Fr. Chuck

What belongs to God?

This past Tuesday I went to the Metro government center on Barrett Avenue and voted. Since I'll be away on November 4th, I wanted to let my voice (ballot) be counted. I'm thankful that we are allowed to vote early if it is necessary.

Did you know that the U.S. bishops have called voting a moral obligation for faithful citizens? Fr. Patrick Delahanty, recently retired head of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky, spoke to a group of mainly Catholic students last night at the Interfaith Center on UofL's campus. He said that in his forty plus years of being a priest he has never had a single person come to the Sacrament of Reconciliation confessing that they failed to vote. (I have to say that my experience in the confessional is exactly the same as Fr. Pat's.) Since it is a moral obligation for us as Catholic Christians to vote, it follows that it must be at least a minor sin to fail to vote.

The U.S. bishops, in their 2007 document Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship, also urge us to do more than vote. They ask us to be responsible and faithful by asking legislators to defend life and promote the dignity of human life while they serve us in the government. We are called by our bishops to call, write, email, tweet, and address our government leaders regularly over the concerns that promote and protect human life, including care for the world that we share. They also ask us to discern whether God is calling us to serve as one of those government leaders. Whether we to run for an elected office or we choose a career that serves the public in some government office or program, it is a vocation that God may be calling some of us to.

This weekend the Gospel reading has one of the most misquoted lines in all of scriptures. In the twenty-second chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel, Jesus says to the Pharisees who were trying to trap Him, "Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God." Many have used this line as a justification for choosing to ignore God's will and law, while choosing to be faithful to their government. Jesus was not advocating patriotism over faith. He was recognizing that we do have a duty to follow reasonable and moral civil laws. But since we are created by God in His image, and all that God has created is still God's, with us as His stewards, then our true calling is to always serve God in all things and in all ways. Sometimes that may even  mean disobeying the civil law in favor of following God's will and laws. It always means being informed and involved in the ways that we vote and the ways we are loyal to God in civil activities.

This Gospel comes at an opportune time to do some praying and studying about how we are going to fill out our ballots. May God guide us and bless our country and our world, especially by the ways we share the blessings of our lives with others.

peace,
Fr. Chuck

The Motley Crew Is You!

Was it W. C. Fields who said, "I could never be a member of a country club that would have me as a member."? Or was it Groucho Marx? Never the less this weekend's readings are about invitation and membership. More specifically they're about who all are invited to God's banquet and God's kingdom, and what it means that one accepts that invitation.

Motley Crue is not just a name of a heavy metal band that could have performed at last week's Louder Than Life Festival in Louisville. Motley crew describes who is part of God's Kingdom now and at the end of time. One spiritual writer of a century ago wrote that he would have three surprises when he shows up at Heavens gate. First, he knows he'll be surprised at the folks that he thought would be there, but aren't. Second, he will be surprised at those who are there, that he thought had no chance. Third, he will be surprised that he will be invited in.

The parable of the Kingdom today from Matthew's 22nd chapter shows the regular invited guests to the king's wedding feast for his son turning their backs and having better things to do. The second choices of the king's also offered excuses not to come. So the king invites peasants and folks living on the side of the road to come to his son's wedding until the banquet hall was filled with "bad and good alike". It reminds me of what I've heard of Dorothy Day's funeral. There in St. Patrick Cathedral (I believe) were cardinals, bishops, business CEO's, and powerful politicians along with bag ladies, winos, AIDS patients, and ex-convicts. It is said that each group was surprised that the folks from the other groups were there.

The point is clear. God's invitation to His heavenly banquet is universal and ALL inclusive. We are the ones who have the problems with the folks on God's guest list. God invites all!

However the end of the parable is a head scratcher. Why would the king throw someone out just because they were not well dressed? Not only did he throw the poorly dressed guest out, he had him bound hand and foot and tossed out. He wasn't politely asked to leave, he was made an example of, and punished. This treatment by the king does not seem to be in character with his benevolent and welcoming behavior in being so all inclusive in his invitation.

Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, in his classic book, "The Cost of Discipleship", tells us that God is not a God of "cheap grace". God's benevolence, mercy, love, forgiveness and welcoming are all free gifts. But they are not "cheap". "All are welcome" is true. But all have a standard to uphold once they realize that they are gifted by God. In Jesus' time wedding guests at a royal wedding were required to dress in a wedding garment. If one did not own suitable clothing, then wedding garments were provided by the host at the door to the banquet hall. In other words, the uninvited guest had ample opportunities to dress appropriately. He just chose to ignore the king's standards.

This part of the story is not about shorts, tank tops, sandals, or revealing clothing in church. It is about responding with gratitude to enormous gift that God is offering us. Once invited we are called to act like we're grateful for the invitation. Showing gratitude as disciples involves trying to live as God wills and in imitation of God's Son. Max Lucado says, "God loves you just the way you are. But, He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus." Life, discipleship, and acceptance of God's invitation to be part of His Eternal Kingdom are all about receiving  God's free gift of an eternal and loving relationship and then treating God, all others and oneself differently because of that gift from God.

In three more chapters from now in Matthew's Gospel we see the story of a whole world of surprised guests. Those on the right will be invited in to "Come and enjoy the eternal banquet prepared for you". Those on the left will be banished. All will be seen as ones who did or did not treat the "least" brothers and sisters of Christ with compassion and mercy.

We know of God's invitation to us. We know that much will be required of those to whom much has been given. Let us each love the motley crew that makes up our world.

Peace,
Fr. Chuck

God gave me a what???

I remember a few years ago riding down a busy Bardstown Rd. in the Highlands on a Saturday night. I had a car full of friends going to the movies at the Mid City Mall. We were in a rush to get there, as usual. The driver in the car in front of me was driving very slowly and being very indecisive about what lane to be in. He or she was on their cellphone and it seemed that they wanted to turn but not sure which direction or what street to turn on. I got totally frustrated and laid on my horn. I also used words of anger that no preacher should even know, much less use. The car finally turned off and got out of MY way. As we got closer to Mid City Mall I got a phone call from another couple who was supposed to meet us for the movie. That part of Bardstown Rd. is always confusing to me. So, I was trying to decide if I should park at the bank across from the shopping center, or which entrance into the mall I should turn into; all of this while talking to my friends on the phone and trying to ask the others in my car if we want to go to the 7 o'clock showing or wait for the 7:30 offering, and do we want them to buy our tickets for us now. Well you can probably guess that I was the one who was frustrating the drivers behind me now. Yes, I got honked at. Yes, I was called the same names that I had just called someone else. Yes, my passengers laughed at the irony of the event and at me!

I don't know about you but I am often harsher in judging someone else than I am me. The readings from Isaiah and the Gospel of Matthew today tell us to look at our own house and our own behavior. Jesus uses a parable about the tenants of a new vineyard to describe our responsibility to be good stewards of what (and who) we are to care for. Isaiah uses a vineyard as an image to illustrate a similar point. Jesus has the tenants in the vineyard abusing and even killing the servants that the vineyard owner sends to check on the tenants caring for his crop of grapes. After sending two troops of servants to look at the tenants' work, and after the tenants mistreat both sets of servants, the landowner sends his own son to ask the tenants for an accounting. Him too they killed using the insane logic that if the son is dead then the vineyard owner will repay the tenants by giving them the son's share of the master's inheritance. Stupid!

Of course, we know that both Isaiah and Jesus were talking to the religious authorities of their day. I'm sure that the scribes, Pharisees, priests and Sadducees knew that Jesus had them right in His cross
hairs when He spoke this parable. They got it! They knew very well that Jesus thought that they were not taking care of the faithful in the way that the Father intended. Such indictments against them would eventually make those religious leaders indignant enough as to have Jesus crucified. So we understand the parable.

Or do we? The easiest way to get out of our responsibility is to think it is always on the shoulders of someone else. Like; Jesus was talking to people 2000 years ago only; or the Republicans and Democrats in Washington or Frankfort need to fix our government; or lawyers need to fix the prison and court system; or abortion is something that only women who are able to be pregnant should decide.

As disciples of Jesus we too are called to care for every sister and brother made in the image and likeness of God. We are God's stewards now. We can not shirk our responsibility for the wrongs of the world. God has given it (and all those in it) to us to care for as He would care for them and it. It is tempting to put personal and financial gain, politics, pride, apathy, and many other things before God's will. His will is tough but always the right thing. Besides, none of those things have a chance to really love us, forgive us, and then save us for eternity.

God has given us a vineyard. God's vineyard needs our care!

peace,
Fr. Chuck